The invention relates to the technical field of dispensing machines for wipe materials made of cellulose wadding, for example for hand wipes, toilet paper, general-purpose wipes and similar uses.
The dispensing machine (1) is of the type comprising in a housing (1a) with a protective cover (1b), internal end pieces (2-3) that are perpendicular relative to the back wall (1c) of said housing, each pair of end pieces being parallel to each other but at different heights. The lower end pieces (2) support a drum (4) that includes the cutting device (5) which is familiar from the Applicant's various patents. The end pieces (3) located on a plane above the above-mentioned end pieces support the wound reel of material. The reel (B) is not in contact with the drum. The lower part (1d) of the housing is designed with a longitudinal opening (1e) through which the emerging strip of material can pass and be gripped and pulled. The lateral end pieces (2) that support the drum are designed with known means making it possible to eject the cutting blade from the drum towards the rear of the machine. The end of the drum has shafts (4a) that rest against and are centred in holes in the above-mentioned end pieces (2). Means of exerting pressure (6) may push against the drum in the manner described in the Applicant's patents. One revolution of the drum is equivalent to one piece of material cut to size.
In practice and because the reel of material is not in contact with the drum, depending on the pulling force (FT) exerted by the user, kinking of the strip of material may occur between the drum and the reel after the drum has rotated one revolution which is equivalent to a piece of wipe material of the predefined size being detached.
In order to overcome this drawback of kinking that can cause the machine to become unserviceable due to jamming, the Applicant has developed very specific anti-kink devices that are described, for instance, in French Patents 2870702, 2860967, 2828083 and 2778902.
In French Patent document number 2870702, transverse pressure rolls are arranged obliquely and come into contact with the lateral edge of the reel in order to fulfil a braking function. However, if the strip is pulled quickly very hard, kinking still occurs because of the inertia of the reel of material (which weighs up to 2 kg).
In French Patent document number 2860967, the anti-kink device which hence brakes the reel of material operates through the hinge pin of the cover relative to the housing acting through a cam mounted on this pin on a swivelling lever that comes into contact against the reel of material.
In French Patent document number 2828083, it is the reel-holder end piece that accommodates a stub support shaft, the stub accommodating an O-ring that penetrates into the reel spool. Means of return as well as geared means are involved in the operation of the device, but in a complex embodiment that is not in use.
Another problem was the fact that it is difficult to separate the last central attached area of the sheet grasped by the user from the reel due to the piece of material between the drum and the reel being insufficiently tensioned during cutting.
The Applicant therefore proposed, in French Patent 2778902, a device, to prevent kinking of a strip of material coming from a reel, which includes a mechanism that acts on the reel holder by locking the latter in position and is actuated by a counterweight device integrated into the movement of the drum to ensure locking or no locking of the reel holder.
In this embodiment, the counterweight device only intervenes if the strip of material is pulled hard.
In this embodiment, the position of the lever locking device underneath the disc that accommodates the stub is random and the locking pin does not necessarily penetrate into one of the indentations formed on the accommodating disc. In addition, this patent also describes the use of a stub that accommodates the spool of the wipe-material reel designed with a central opening that forms a recess accommodating two half thrust flanges that can expand due to the action of means of rolling and are driven by a belt that acts as a brake. As said flanges move apart, they cause the belt to come into contact with the inner part of the spool, thereby locking it.
In practice, additional experiments conducted by the Applicant showed that all these suggested improvements based on the prior art as described above proved inadequate in operation in terms of controlling braking of the reel holder spool because pressure was converted into potential slipping that allowed the braked strip of material to be unwound.
In Patent FR 2778902, the belt surrounding the flanges was not sufficiently reliable and tended to come off when the roll was fitted.
The Applicant's approach was therefore to rethink a new solution that used some of the means described in previous solutions but with different layouts and after optimising certain configurations and components.
The solution devised by the Applicant thus makes it possible to optimise operation of the machine by obtaining complete, instantaneous locking of the reel of wipe material, for every revolution of the drum, without any possibility of slippage due to unpredictable contact pressure, regardless of the pulling force exerted by the user on the strip of material that is to be dispensed. This solution is also advantageous in order to cut the strip of material when a slow, continuous pulling force is exerted.
The Applicant's approach was therefore to propose a device of simple design that achieved particularly effective results compared with the various solutions previously suggested, regardless of the nature of the wipe material used, given the fact that such materials differ enormously in terms of their use and properties, depending on the original manufacturer of the reel of wipe material.